


The Steyliff Struggle

by TimidMarshmallow



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: De-Aged, competition entry, fluff n stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-23
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2019-05-27 03:50:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15016058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimidMarshmallow/pseuds/TimidMarshmallow
Summary: “Ma-ma!”“Oh no, no no no no, you are not calling me that!” Aranea was not going to be reduced to literally babysitting. When Ardyn had assigned this job he had jokingly called it that, but now that she was LITERALLY BABYSITTING THE ENEMY COUNTRY’S KING (and friends)... This was way out her skillset, payrange, every other excuse she could think of as she pitied what her years of work had led her to.*entry for discord competition, theme: one year*





	The Steyliff Struggle

**Author's Note:**

> Here’s my entry for the discord competition!

“Not a fan of mushy desserts.” 

They sliced and shot their way through more of the flans inside Steyliff. With Gladio gone Aranea was proving to be a big help. Of course, it was also nice to get a bit of inside information on the empire... even if she was being a little vague. The three men were grateful nonetheless. 

The dungeon eventually led them away from the center room with the shimmering water ceiling. 

“These bridges don’t look safe. We should find another way around.” Aranea had stuck to the back of the group, it was easier to keep an eye on all three of her charges that way. Unfortunately, that meant it was a bit hard to hear her at times. Noctis ran on and the other two blindly followed him. “I said wait up! This stonework looks-“

She didn’t get to finish her warning before the bridge collapsed with Prompto, Noctis, and Ignis on top. Aranea raced to the edge and peered over, hoping they were okay. She wouldn’t get paid if they were dead. 

Sitting unharmed on a large piece of the destroyed bridge, three babies looked back up at her. 

...What? 

The prince and his friends looked like they were a year old, maybe?? Aranea hadn’t been around kids in a long time, so she was a bit bad at judging ages. 

Oh man, did her payment plan cover accidental transformations? Would Ardyn get upset that she’d somehow turned the guys into this? He seemed to have an obsession with them (part of what made him creepy, but he was still above her in rank so she couldn’t do anything), and this turn of events might make him readjust her salary. Damn it. It wasn’t her fault this place was a supernatural and temporal mess!

She hopped down to them when Ignis began crawling away. “Uh… Come here, babies.” 

Prompto had started crying, so she picked him up first and stopped Ignis by sticking her foot in his path. He just grabbed onto her boot and shakily stood up, using her leg for balance. Noctis stayed where he was, just staring. Aranea bent to pick him up too, adjusting a now slightly whimpering Prompto, and Noctis just flopped over. “Hey, you can’t take a nap here!”

Apparently, he could. 

Careful not to make Ignis fall, she scooped up the sleepy royal while tightening her grip on the blond that was already clinging to her. Now that Noctis had been moved he was angry, and so he abandoned trying to sleep. Prompto grabbed some of her hair, the silver side-bangs had swayed into his view. “Get my hair out of your mouth, Shortcake.”

Her exasperation didn’t deter him, and Prompto continued drooling up the mercenary's hair. Noctis noticed what Prompto was doing, and he grabbed a handful. Instead of purely copying his friend he yanked. Hard. “Ngah! Quit it, you royal pain in-” Ignis started smacking at her leg to get some attention. “Ma-ma!”

“Oh no, no no no no, you are not calling me that!” Aranea was not going to be reduced to literally babysitting. When Ardyn had assigned this job he had jokingly called it that, but now that she was LITERALLY BABYSITTING THE ENEMY COUNTRY’S KING (and friends)... This was way out her skillset, payrange, every other excuse she could think of as she pitied what her years of work had led her to.

Prompto rested his head against her shoulder, and she sighed. “Fine. I’ll get you guys out of here. Just… no more calling me ‘mama’.”

-o-

She had called Biggs and Wedge after realizing she couldn’t carry three babies alone. 

They had dutifully entered the dungeon and found them, aiding their boss in transporting the Lucians to safety. Through some miracle no daemons had appeared while Aranea tried to keep the three quiet and still. The new party of six hid in her red airship as the adults tried to figure out a way to undo whatever this situation was. Luckily, Ardyn hadn’t been hanging around the front of the entrance so he was still unaware of the troublesome status.

“I’m guessing that the bridge falling somehow pulled them through a ‘time warp’.” Aranea rocked Prompto in her arms, trying to get him to sleep. As soon as Biggs and Wedge had arrived he had become clingy, not wanting to let go of her. She had carried him out, and when she had tried to put him down in the airship he had started crying again. “There had been a bridge that fixed itself, maybe if we took them back to one of those it would change them back?”

Biggs, who was still holding a sleeping Noctis, nodded. “Those Solheim dungeons are all messed up. Remember that Pitioss one that wouldn’t even let us walk in?” Wedge also chimed in as he tried to help Ignis take a few steps. The baby advisor had a death grip on the soldier’s hands as he wobbled forward. “You’re probably right, Lady A, but it’s daytime now. The dungeon closed up.”

He was right. They had left a few hours after sunrise, and the stone now barred access. 

“We’re going to have to keep them here until nightfall.” Aranea looked down at Prompto, who had finally drifted off to dreamland while snuggled against her chest. “That charmer of a chancellor is bound to check in at some point. How are we going to keep him from finding out before then?”

“Why can’t we ask him for help?” “Oi, stupid, you want him to fire us?”

“Stop it, you two. I don’t know how he’ll react, but it probably won’t be good.” She was sure there would be some form of punishment, monetary or not, and she didn’t need her men panicking now. They had to stay calm if they were going to pull this off.

How hard could it be to care for three children? 

They scrounged up a blanket, and they put the two sleepers down on it. Prompto and Noctis were taken care of, now it was Ignis’ turn. “Come here, time for you to take a nap.” Aranea managed to rock him to sleep too, and soon he was nestled next to his friends.

“You know, they have a fourth member. Don’t know why he’s not here, and it’s too bad we can’t call him. Then he could take care of this mess.” They were his comrades, he should be doing this. Not Aranea. When all this was over she was going to get all their phone numbers just in case. “Okay, they’re all asleep. What do we have to eat?”

“Ooh, good point Lady A! We gotta feed them.” 

“I meant for us, but you’re right. I don’t know the last time they ate. Their stomachs are smaller now, so they may need food soon.” Aranea may not have been a childcare expert, but she at least knew their eating habits were different than adults. 

Biggs went to go check their rations, and Wedge brought up another problem. “What happens when they… you know… poop? We don’t have diapers.”

Aranea pinched the bridge of her nose. “Where’s the nearest outpost? One of us is going to have to go get supplies, secretly. Those troopers outside are going to report if we leave.”

“We can both go to Meldacio. Just need to take off anything with the coat of arms, yeah?” Wedge pointed to the imperial markings on his uniform, and Biggs returned empty handed. “We don’t have anything to eat, for us or them.”

“Alright. Here’s the gil. Go get what we need, I’ll stay here with them. Hopefully they will stay asleep until you get back.” Aranea sat down on the floor next to the three babies after her men left.

It was calm, all they were doing was breathing peacefully. They had huddled closer, and she moved to check if they were cold. Running the back of her finger against each of their soft baby cheeks, she found herself comparing their faces. “You’re all so tiny. Especially you, Shortcake.” The blond was so much smaller than the older two, and Aranea felt a surge of protectiveness. Ugh, she was getting all sappy. 

Disgusting. 

Gently moving Prompto closer to Noctis, Aranea pulled the excess blanket so it covered all three. Ignis stretched in his sleep, and she caught his hand before he unwittingly hit Noctis. “Don’t wake him up just yet.” She was still a little mad that he had pulled her hair. Any opponent who had been stupid enough to try that in past fights had quickly been impaled. She supposed she could let the latest occurrence slide.They were too young to retaliate against, and she doubted Noctis even knew what he had been doing at the time. 

Checking one last time to see if they were warm enough, she brushed errant hair from sleeping faces. 

Damn it. 

They were all so cute.

Aranea went to lean against the wall, denying that she had thought that. They weren’t really babies, they were three grown men affected by magic. She shouldn’t be thinking about them as adorable. 

What was taking Biggs and Wedge so long? She may have been a fierce warrior who definitely didn’t find children cute, but she quickly lost the battle against sleep.

-o-

Prompto was trying to crawl onto her lap, and she startled awake. Pulling him up so he was seated safely on her thighs, she scanned for the other two. Ignis was standing up as best he could… He managed about five seconds before falling back down. That didn’t discourage him from getting back to his feet for another try. Noctis was busy crawling in the other direction. She didn’t know what he was headed toward, there was nothing of interest in his chosen path. 

“Hey, come back here.”

Noctis ignored her, but Ignis gave up on walking and crawled over. He joined Prompto on the mercenery’s lap, and the blond leaned over to grab at his friend. “Ih.”

“Are you trying to say Ignis?” Aranea started wondering just how much they remembered in their new forms. She called out Prompto’s name, and sure enough he looked up at her expectantly. “Where’s Noctis?” Both Prompto and Ignis looked over to where their friend was, pointing and reaching out with grabby hands. The boy himself turned when he heard his name, and Noctis finally deemed fit to crawl over. There was no more room on Aranea’s lap, but that didn’t stop him. He sat on her shins. Buried under the babies Aranea sighed. “How am I going to keep all of you busy for a whole afternoon?”

It was only eleven o'clock in the morning. The nap had lasted a few hours, and her underlings should have been back by now.

As she mused over an appropriate plan of action the boys fidgeted on her lap, grabbing at her and each other. Noctis pulled on Prompto’s leg, and the blond sucked on his own thumb. Ignis stood up as best he could on her lap and she put a hand on his side to steady him.

Thankfully Biggs and Wedge arrived two minutes later with full bags. “We found stuff they can use.” “Yeah, but who’s gonna put these diapers on them? I don’t want to.” 

Aranea groaned, another task outside her comfort zone. “I’ll do it. Let me get it now, luckily none of them have gone yet. Go get started on the food.” The men gladly left their boss with the job of diapering the babies. 

She eased Ignis and Noctis off of her lap and lay Prompto flat on the floor. Opening the diaper pack, she pulled one out and started pulling the blond’s pants down. “Don’t get any ideas.” Prompto stared at her innocently, and she hurried to get him covered with the absorbent underwear. Fixing his pants, she sat him up. “That was easy. Now, the other two.” 

She grabbed Noctis next. After she pulled down his pants he twisted around and tried to crawl away. “Get back here!” Catching him, she had to hold him down with one hand on his belly and get the diaper on with the other. As she wrestled it onto him Prompto crawled over and smiled at Noctis. “Nuh!” 

That made him look up at the blond, finally staying still. Aranea yanked his pants up, glad to be done with him. Finally free, he crawled over to Prompto and tried to grab at his friend’s hair. Aranea moved him away before he could pull. “Leave Prompto alone, pick on someone your own size. Come here, Ignis.” 

Mercifully, Ignis stayed still and let her do what she needed. While she was working with him Prompto crawled over to Noctis. When Aranea heard crying she looked over to see Noctis sitting on top of Prompto. “Oh, come on!” She pulled the older boy off and moved him a good distance away. Ignis was trying to crawl with his pants around his ankles now that she had stopped paying attention to him. She snagged him and fixed his clothes before sitting back down on the floor, exhausted. 

“This is why I didn’t have kids.” 

Prompto clambered back onto her lap. “Ma-ma!” 

“No.” 

-o-

“Come on, little guy, eat the yummy pasta.” Wedge had made the food soft, unsure of their ability to eat. It turned out they could eat just fine because Prompto and Ignis were happily accepting spoonful after spoonful. Noctis, however, was spitting out everything that Wedge managed to get in his mouth. “I picked the wrong one to feed, eh?” 

Biggs smiled. “Yeah, well it ain’t his fault you’re incompetent.” Ignis grabbed a noodle that had fallen off of the spoon and shoved it in greedily. “Look, it isn’t that hard. This one’s doing it himself.” Biggs pointed to Prompto in Aranea’s lap. “At least he’s not clingy like that one.” 

Again, Prompto had gotten upset when one of the men had tried to pick him up. Aranea had to hold him to keep him from being scared of the strangers. “Don’t make fun of him. He’s just terrified of your hideous faces.” 

“Ooh, haha. Good one, Lady A.” “Yeah, well, that’s a shame because he’s stuck with us all day.” 

Aranea held up another spoonful for Prompto to eat, but he picked the pasta off and held it out to her. “Are you trying to feed me?” 

“Oi? How come these two aren’t being all cute like that?” “Are you jealous of a baby getting to feed the boss?” “No, you dolt, I am not getting jealous! What gave you that idea?” 

They bickered on and Aranea decided to indulge the child. She put the spoon in the bowl on the floor next to them and held Prompto so he was standing on her lap. He held the noodle up as he attempted to get it in her mouth, but he dropped it 

right 

down 

her 

shirt

into 

her…

Prompto tried to grab the noodle, and his fingers almost touched it before Aranea pulled his hand out of her exposed cleavage. He went to try again, but she sat him down on her lap facing the other way. Arm around his waist, she used her other hand to dig out the noodle. “Sorry, Blondie, you missed.” She ate it anyway. 

He didn’t care anymore, because now he could see the whole bowl sitting next to them and he wanted it. Reaching out, he whined a bit. 

Aranea continued feeding him, completely ignoring the dumbfounded stares of her comrades. It was a good thing Ignis could reach his own food by himself, because neither soldier was really paying attention anymore. They started trading tales of the various men Aranea had utterly destroyed for lesser offenses. 

Now that no one was looking, Noctis gave his food a taste and proceeded to eat the whole serving. 

-o-

“And the behemoth did say to the little old flan~“ “No, you’re singing it wrong! It goes-“ “I am not singing it wrong, that’s how it goes in upper Gralea. It’s different from other sections of the capital.” 

Prompto, Noctis, and Ignis grew bored now that the men weren’t singing like fools anymore. Aranea had been trapped by them again, they all wanted to sit with her after lunch. At this rate she wasn’t going to accomplish anything, especially now that her assistance was acting childish too. In order to amuse himself Ignis stood, using Aranea’s arm to pull himself up. She moved him so he was leaning on the wall and he slowly toddled away, depending on the new support. Noctis crawled after him. “Hey, don’t do anything mean.” 

Prompto, not wanting to be left behind, slid off Aranea’s lap. He started to crawl too, but she picked him up and held him in a standing position. He put his feet on the floor, and Aranea adjusted so that she was holding his hands. “Go ahead, walk. I’ve got you.” The little boy stayed in place, almost falling over even with the mercenary’s steady hold. She eased him back down to the floor. 

“Can the prince walk?” 

Glancing over to her men, she answered. “Oh, you two are done arguing? Finally. I don’t know, let’s see.” Aranea let Prompto crawl off after his friends and she grabbed Noctis to try the same thing. He took one step and tried to sit down again. “Don't be lazy, come on. Try to walk.” The royal refused, simply sitting there despite the prodding and encouragement. 

Biggs and Wedge moved away to coax Noctis over. “Come on, gotta get your buddies.” “Yeah, your pals are moving around no problem.” 

“You have to use their names. Watch. Noctis, where’s Prompto? Go get Prompto.” Aranea pointed, but that was unnecessary. Prompto started coming back over, excited. “No, Prompto, stay there. Noctis is supposed to go to you.” 

That did not stop him from crawling over. “Nuh!” 

Noctis decided to meet his friend halfway. Prompto didn’t slow down though, so he crashed into the older boy. They laughed, surprising the adults, and Noctis took a fistful of Prompto’s shirt to stick in his mouth. The blond lay down on him as best he could; Noctis didn’t relinquish his new chew toy and this made their positioning awkward. 

Aranea glanced around to see where Ignis had gotten to. 

The eldest was on the other side of the room and still on the move. How had he traveled so fast!? Ignis was still only using the wall for support!! Aranea walked over to pick him up and deposit him with the others. Ignis used Noctis to stand up and then hugged his head. This did nothing to stop him from chomping on Prompto’s shirt. 

“Shouldn’t we separate them? If that one falls over they’ll all crush the little one.” “But look how much they love each other! You can’t pull them apart, right Lady A?” 

“Blondie seems happy enough, even with the prince being a bully. And I’m impressed at how far Ignis walked all by himself.” Aranea was NOT smiling or contemplating taking a picture. She wasn’t. It was just too bad that the big guy they traveled with was missing this perfect blackmail material. 

Ignis let go of his friend’s head to take a step. Prompto tried to sit up, but Noctis shoved him back down. He wasn’t done drooling all over the shirt. Prompto tried again, and when he still wasn’t allowed to get up he started crying. Aranea finally intervened. “Alright, get off.” 

Noctis also started crying when Prompto was taken away from him. He followed Aranea, who was cradling the blond so he’d calm down. Prompto squirmed, trying to get back to Noctis. “You want to go back to him? Okay, I don’t want to hear you crying when he’s mean.” She put him next to the bigger child, ready for the coming tears. 

They never arrived. Prompto sat next to Noctis and let him chew on the shirt again. Because he was able to move more, he didn’t whine about it. Prompto leaned his head to rest on Noctis’ as the royal continued to eat his clothes. 

“You two are ridiculous.” Aranea left them to whatever weird ritual they were engaging in. She wondered if they acted like this as adults too. If so, poor Ignis for putting up with them. 

A sudden metallic thudding startled all three children, and Aranea’s stomach dropped. 

Ardyn. 

What was he doing banging on her airship? He should have assumed they were all still in the dungeon! How did he know they were in here!? Wait, maybe he didn’t… Yeah, maybe he was looking for Biggs and Wedge? He knew the two of them had stayed outside. 

“Go see what he wants.” Aranea shushed the boys as she moved them further into the airship. She sat them together and covered them with the blanket, but she thought that looked too conspicuous. Damn it. Why weren’t there more hiding places on these stupid imperial aircrafts? It was too late anyway, Biggs and Wedge were opening the giant bay door for the chancellor. 

“Heeelllloooo! My apologies for the intrusion, gentlemen, but I was wondering if you could contact- Oh! How wonderful. Aranea! I was looking for you. I was going to rush you out of the dungeon, but you’re already out.” Ardyn strolled into the airship after he noticed that the commodore was aboard. Jerk wasn’t even granted permission to enter, but that didn’t phase him. “I expected the job to- Oh? That blanket appears to be moving.”

Aranea sighed. There was no way of protecting them from him, and she now felt foolish for even trying. She lifted the blanket to reveal the baby boys. 

Prompto immediately hid his face in his hands when he saw the chancellor staring down at them. Ignis and Noctis sat there glaring. Ardyn tutted disapprovingly. “I see you found trouble.”

“More like trouble found us. Do you know how to turn them back?” Aranea wanted to see if her theory was correct. Ardyn sighed, the young king always managed to cause the most irritating disturbances to his perfect plans. “You’ll need to take them back into the dungeon and repeat whatever happened. I trust you can manage without my assistance, Commodore?” 

“Gladly.” 

“Hmm, good to see that you’re so confident. Oh, but you’ll have to wait until nightfall. Have fun with these three headaches.” Ardyn leaned down and as he got closer all three children started crying. The chancellor stood back up shrugging with faux innocence, as if he had no idea why the boys suddenly burst into tears. Aranea waited until he strolled out to comfort them. 

“Don’t cry, I know he’s a nasty old di- Ugh! Which one of you pooped your pants!?”

-o-

The rest of the afternoon seemed to fly by once Aranea got them to take another nap. 

Biggs and Wedge insisted they feed the boys dinner too, awkwardly stating that it had been kind of fun to watch three babies. “T’was a nice break from all the war stuff.” “Yeah, being around little humans was a bit of a change from the magitek, eh?” 

“You two have gone soft.” Aranea hugged Prompto closer as she carried him back towards Steyliff. The blond snuggled against her and put his thumb in his mouth. “Alright, the dungeon should be opening in five minutes.” 

Biggs and Wedge began singing the song they had been arguing about earlier, finally deciding to turn the differing verses into a harmony. Noctis started falling asleep again, but Ignis started clapping. The door opened before the end of their song. 

Taking point and heading in slowly, Aranea shifted her shrunken Crownsguard to one arm so she could wield her spear. “Keep your eyes peeled for daemons.” They crept through the dark halls on high alert, but it seemed that everything they had fought during the first runthrough stayed down. Appreciating the small blessing, the group made it back to the bridge that had started this whole mess. 

“So what, do we have to just put ‘em on the floor?” “Won’t this one start crawling away again?” Biggs and Wedge wearily looked at the drop to the rubble on the floor. Ignis, sensing they were talking about him, babbled incomprehensibly as if he had been offended by the suggestion. 

“Ardyn wasn’t exactly generous with details. Let’s try putting them back where I found them.” Aranea scanned the area for a safer way down. She was comfortable jumping, but the other two didn’t possess her aerial prowess. Walking around led them to some stairs, and they carried the children to the destroyed bridge. Placing all three boys on the exact spot she had lifted them from originally, Aranea hopped off of the rock pile. Biggs and Wedge began cheering when the bridge pieces floated to repair itself. The imperials hurried back up the stairs to see if the Lucians had returned to their proper age. 

The three friends were laying on the bridge when Aranea and her men made it back up. She shouted to them, not wanting to step on the structure and cause another collapse. Prompto groaned as he sat up, panicking when he saw the other two just sprawled on the floor. “Noct! Ignis!” 

“Ugh, stop yelling…” Noctis covered his eyes with his arm as Ignis dragged himself up. “What happened? Is everyone alright!?” 

Aranea called them again. “Hey, get your lazy butts over here before the bridge falls again.” 

“Again?” All three men were confused as they walked back to the commodore. Noctis pointed to Biggs and Wedge. “Hey, what are they doing here?” 

Prompto noticed another oddity. “Uh… why am I wearing a diaper!?” His announcement of the absorbent underwear made the other two aware that they were in a similar predicament. Ignis narrowed his eyes as Aranea started laughing. “Would you care to explain what is going on here?” 

When she finally finished enjoying their embarrassment she filled them in. “Oh, you, prince, and Shortcake were turned into babies.” 

“Ay, right little cuties you were.” “I could tell even Lady A thought-“ Biggs’ and Wedge’s stomachs became the recipients of Aranea’s fists. “Shut it. You two are dismissed for now. I’ve still got to babysit these three through the rest of the dungeon.” 

“Indeed. We still need the mythril, and it seems we’ve lost precious time.” Ignis tried to get everyone to re-focus on why they were really here. Noctis sighed. “Yeah, let’s get this over with.” 

Prompto asked Aranea about what had happened once the party was moving again. “So, babies, huh? Did we give you any trouble?” 

“...No.” Aranea left it at that.

**Author's Note:**

> https://mermaidknight413.tumblr.com/post/174736539464/well-there-is-a-ten-year-difference-between-her


End file.
